The Star Splitter
by Sparkly Palm Tree
Summary: Dick becomes a daddy, obviously, in a case not unlike the al Ghul conundrum. Bruce takes it upon himself to try and teach Dick the ways of parenting, but he quickly becomes the one *receiving* the tips. - Mar'i Grayson/Starshine/Nightfire as a baby, now w/ Roy and Wally! - Title from a Robert Frost Poem
1. Leisure for Stargazing

I admit, I've looked down upon Nightstar lovers for years. But then I was like, Dick would be such a great daddy. I really _**need**_ a fic about him having a baby! Because DG+babies=cuteness overload. And I don't like OCs all that much, so I was like 'I'll steal from Canon again! *evil cackle*'. And _that_ , my friends, is how babies are made.

BT Dubs, I tried out a different style on this one, so comment, review and drown me with feedback! Or I'll. . . . um, I'll. . . . Well. Look, The point is, REVIEW!

* * *

"Bruce," Dick whispers urgently into his phone, hoping that his voice is somehow conveying the sheer . . . _something._

"Dick?"

He would have sagged in relief, unfortunately the sound of his beloved mentor/adopted-father/the-Scourge-of-the-Criminal-Underworld didn't take away the panic attack he was getting from the little bundle sleeping on his couch.

"Bruce," he breathes again.

"Is everything alright?" Normally, he could've made a joke that ' _Wow, Bruce's timing had really improved over the years. This was actually the right moment to be empathetic/sympathetic/anything-but-apathetic.'_ Only, this wasn't normally. And he seriously doubts that it will ever be again.

But then, _hell_ no _, everything isn't 'alright'._

* * *

"I'm a _dad_."

Bruce freezes. The world around him stops as well, ceasing the moment his eldest speaks the last word. The only thing he stays aware of is the short, frantic breathing of the young man on the other end of the line.

A substantial portion of his brain dedicates itself to sending or receiving flashes of a tiny eight year old smiling up at him, and he can't fathom that in those fifteen years, those _fast_ fifteen years, the little boy had apparently become a father.

The other side of his mind, much more efficient, and much darker focused on the inane number of questions fluttering through his cranium.

Who's the mother? When did it happen? How old? Was he going to keep the child?

"Explain," he demands, sounding especially like Batman.

* * *

"Okay, so Galfore comes, right? And at first, I was all like 'hey what's up?', and he was all like 'Nightwing, I have something for you.' And I was thinking that maybe I'd left a Wing-Ding on Tamaran last time I visited or-"

Dick knows he's rambling, but he thinks the situation called for a little, teensy-weensy bit of anxiety.

"Dick," Bruce warns.

"So, he pulls out this huge like nanny harness thingy-"

" _Dick_ ," his mentor emphasizes again, cutting off the slur of words spilling from him, but only momentarily, because now Dick is on a roll and about two feet from hysteria.

"-And he hands me thi-this thing and at first I said 'Aww, man, you shouldn't have!' Even though I didn't know what it was yet. But then I start unwrapping the blankets and he says; 'Meet your daughter, Mar'i Grayson, heir apparent to the throne of Tamaran'. And so I was like, ' _Fuck_.' But he's already left," Dick spits it out as quickly as he can, and he really hopes Bruce caught all of that because if he has to say it all again, he _will_ faint.

Not that he won't anyways, once this phone call is over.

* * *

The world around him hasn't regained any sense of motion yet. Tim and Damian are still frozen in place, only halfway into their fighting stances. Starfire? He blinks. "How old is 'Mar'i'?"

"I-I don't know! She's really _tiny_. Is that bad? Oh my gosh, could she have some sort of-"

"Calm down," Bruce says, mostly to himself, but Dick in his frenzied state misunderstands, but while Dick _does_ need to calm down, it's also worrying because Dick _always_ understands.

"I can't ' _calm down_ '!" Dick hisses, and he can picture his son running his hand through his hair with eyes widened to enormous proportions. "There's a baby- my baby, sitting in front of me! X'hal," Dick cries, and Bruce wonders why he chose that particular Tamaranean expression. "I didn't even know that she was..."

"Bruce," his boy says again, voice cracking, sounding broken and scared and desperate, in a way Bruce has never heard before. "I don't know what to _do_."

Neither does Bruce. But he's found that sometimes the decisions that he didn't spend hours deliberating - like taking in a certain orphaned circus boy - ended up being some of the best the best ones he'd ever made.

"Bring her to the Manor."

"No!"

* * *

"I don't want to touch it!" That came out wrong, but. . . what if he _broke_ her? She was so tiny and fragile looking. He didn't even know how to pick her up. "Can. . . can you come over here?"

He expects Bruce to say no. He's got a multi-billion dollar company to run, a Batman to be, even a Damian to take care of. Some distant corner of his mind dimly registers the thought, _oh shit_ , _Damian_.

"I'll be there in five minutes."

He doesn't see how that's humanly possible, but it sends a warmth through him anyways.

Dick is still staring at the tiny infant swaddled in blankets when emerald eyes flutter open drowsily. Those are _definitely_ from her mom's side, and somehow they light up when they see him, like she _knows_ , and she begins to move through the blankets.

And then, there are little pudgy hands reaching up to him. His hands are shaking as he extends his fingers to meet hers, and he almost instantly feels a connection, much like with Kori, but different. There's still the underlying current of understanding and emotions that runs with Tamaraneans, that lets him fully comprehend their personalities through first contact.

Mar'i is a happy baby, he can tell. And he loves her even more. It takes him a second to realize what he's said. ' _Even more'_. It takes two more seconds to realize that he means it, from the bottom of his heart.

He _also_ realizes, that she hasn't learned to speak yet. Dick could teach her Romani, and how to do trapeze acts, and to always look further than whatever mask someone is putting up.

Dick picks up _his_ little girl and smiles back at her, nose to nose (but he _really_ hopes he doesn't drop her, especially now that he's had his huge epiphany).

She pats his face happily, and she seems content with whatever she finds, and leans even further into his face, her big green eyes obscuring everything else from vision.

But that's fine, because what else could he possibly need to see?


	2. Quicksilver in Your Palm

Dick wonders briefly, as Mar'i is _attempting_ to give his head a hug, and he's trying not to laugh, how Bruce had any trouble accepting Damain.

But he doesn't have to _try_ not to laugh when he remembers that ' _oh, yeah, Bruce still hasn't'._

That's the part that always frustrates Dick. Damian was only acting upon what he'd been taught for the better part of his life. _And_ , he was doing what Bruce asked of him. Maybe not in the sense of following orders, but at least in not killing. In believing in Justice, rather than vengeance. Damian had given up _everything_ for his father, and Bruce couldn't even _acknowledge_ his presence? Dick had always been great at reading - very, very, _very_ \- far between the lines, and seeing, maybe not the desired affection, but at the least, the fondness and care that Bruce held for him.

But Damian couldn't make that connection, because he'd been raised in an environment where affection was discouraged, and certainly never _given_. Damian needed more than a lucky guess.

Bruce had said that Dick didn't understand, _couldn't_ understand unless someone ever pulled an Al Ghul on him. Now, Kori was definitely no Talia, but he _totally_ got the whole 'here's-your-biological-child-that-we-never-told-you-about-that's-heir-to-practically-the-entire-universe' vibe.

But babies and kids are pretty dissimilar, he supposes. And, yes, there's a slight difference between being half Tamaranean and half insane, immortal assassin, but the point still stood.

Mar'i smacks him with one of her tiny little baby hands, and it draws him out of his thoughts. Because it really hurt, even if this is a baby that's only existed for a few months at most.

He tries his best to look offended as he pulls her gently away from his face, and she giggles, showing off her deep dimples.

Dick marvels that in the course of four minutes, he's gone from absolutely terrified of this - _his_ \- child, to playing with her. Man, Bruce doesn't know what he's been missing out on.

She babbles at him excitedly, and this time he doesn't bother trying to hide his snickers. She grins even bigger at making him laugh, almost like reminding him of a. . . clown! He can show Mar'i the circus!

Dick doesn't know if he's supposed to, but he bounces his baby up and down as he chatters right back at her. "I can take you to see the _circus_ , Mar'i! Do you want to?"

There's no way she could have any idea what the circus is, but she gets escatic anyways, picking up on his happiness. He dimly realizes that this is probably the first time she's ever heard his voice. "Sur!" Mar'i warbles. "Sur-kah!"

This baby has no idea how happy it makes him. "Yeah!" Dick affirmates, and he's pretty sure his face is going to tear in half from all this smiling. "Sur-kah."

She looks up at him with innocent green eyes, and he has to acknowledge how little she looks like him. Mar'i definitely got his hair and his dimples, but the huge glowing green orbs came from his _favorite_ alien princess (which says a lot, especially considering how many alien princesses he's met). Her skin is a mix between his dark olive and Kori's orange, but it definitely leans toward her mother's. Her most distinguishable feature is being _adorable_ , and even though it's way too early to tell, he thinks that Mar'i looks a little bit like his mother, the _other_ Mary Grayson, with different coloring.

Speaking of mothers. . . "Mar'i," he begins, and it's stupid, he knows, asking a baby this question, but he's doing it anyways. "Do you know where your-" he cuts off, trying to remember the word in Tamaranean, because _excuse_ him, he's a little rusty. He's not even sure she'll recognize it, but _oh well,_ he decides. "' _M'gnorffka'_ is?

Her eyes light up, and she smacks his arm, _hard_ (she definitely got the dominant gene of super-strength), with her tiny hand again, as if trying to get his attention, which she already has. But she looks pretty upbeat with the prospect of her 'M'gnorffka', so Dick's fairly sure that his ex-fiancé/ex-girlfriend/first-love/mother-to-his-child is alive, meaning that she might be able give him more details.

But for now, Mar'i seems happy. And at that moment, he's sure that's all he ever wants her to be.


	3. The World Amongst

i really love you guys! Just saying. I do.

i know very little about babies, besides how cute and pudgy they are! I picture Dick being around 23 in here, making Bruce like. . . 43, depending on how pronounced you think the age difference is.

Ooh ooh, also, in Romani 'Chakano' means Star. That's not really relevant except for i thought it was cool and might appear later. And this is Bruces POV (here you go shejams, some Grandpa!Bruce! :D )

* * *

Six minutes, thirty four seconds, two broken Zeta Beams, and one disgruntled cabbie after the end of a certain call, Bruce barges into Dick's had several theories on the scene that would greet him, but it certainly wasn't this.

None of them had been happy.

One was of Dick and the infant having a stare down. Another of the baby crying, and Dick holding it by the legs, unsure of what to do.

Instead, he sees something different entirely. The baby, maybe around six or seven months old, is nose to nose with his son, babbling happily to him, while he nods and smiles, listening intently.

Dick whirls around to face him, and hoists 'Mar'i' out like the Lion King. "Bruce, _look_!"

"I thought you were afraid to touch it," Bruce deadpans.

He shakes the baby back and forth. "I was. But look at her!"

Bruce does. She clearly _is_ Tamaranean, but her skin isn't quite as orange, and has thick black curls rather than red hair. He supposes, (if she really _is_ who Dick seems to think she is) that it's in her genes to be happy. But what _really_ catches his attention is the hands under her arms.

"Dick! You're holding her wrong!"

"No, no, it's fine," Dick assures him, even as signs of worry and insecurity creep into his electric blue eyes. "She's pretty much invincible. Half alien warrior princess, you know?"

Bruce gingerly takes the baby from him, cradling her the _right_ way. He's not going to let Dick drop her, regardless of whether it's his or not.

Mar'i looks up at him, before cocking her head curiously."Sur-Kah?"

Dick makes a kind of strangled cooing noise at the baby. "No, Mar'i," he grins at them wider then Bruce can ever remember him doing with the exception of being under the influence of Joker Gas. "That's your _Grandpa_."

His chest tightens along with his hands around the infant.

' _Grandpa_ ' insinuates that Dick is his son, something they'd danced around for years, neither wanting to make the other uncomfortable with titles, and it s ends a wave of relief and happiness over him, until he realizes the other implication of the word. _Old_.

Maybe he doesn't like this title as much as he'd thought.

But _then_ , it takes all of his decades of training as Batman to stop his hands from shaking as Mar'i grasps one of his fingers tightly and grins at him while she bouces up and down. As she smiles, he loses all doubts that this _isn't_ Dick's child, even without the DNA test. But as she squeezes it with inhuman strength, he's reminded of her _other_ heritage.

Bruce yanks his freshly bruised finger out of her hold, and she actually _scowls_ at him. He glares back.

He glares back."Oh, _yeah_ ," Dick says, and he's snickering, but Bruce doesn't bother to look up, eyes still fixated on the child. "I can see the family resemblance _already_."

Mar'i giggles at the sound of her father's voice and reaches out to him, in a total mood swing.

His _son_ carefully takes back the bundle, still not holding her correctly, and Bruce can't resist the urge to correct him as he holds his _granddaughter_ in his arms. "Cradle her head."

The younger man shifts awkwardly, trying to accommodate the girl like Bruce told him. Dick was _always_ going to be his good soldier. "I'm _really_ glad you know so much about babies, Bruce, because-"

Bruce raised an eyebrow at him and Dick stops talking. "Alfred."

"Alfred!" Dick cries. "What am I going to tell him? God, and Damian and Tim and Jason! 'Yeah, hey, you guys know Starfire? Well, she had a baby! And guess whose it is?'"

"Perhaps not like that, but-"

Dick's eyes grow even wider, and Bruce knows that if his arms weren't currently. . . occupied, he would be gesturing wildly. "He probably already _knows_!"

"Sur- _Kah_ ," Mar'i enunciates, grabbing Dick's chin and stares up at him pointedly. Dick's frenzied expression fades, and he smiles down at her, shoulders slumping.

" _Kah_ ," she adds simply, as if she's made her point and lets go of his face, just as the door swings open.

"Master Dick!"


	4. With Such Tender Care

_Remember! Chakano means star! Very short I'm sorryyyyyyyyyy_

 ** _Filler chapter. . . Waiting for the uncles for the juicy part . ._**

* * *

Bruce and Dick exchange looks.

"Hey there, Alfie," Dick offers weakly.

"Sur- _kah_?" Mar'i asks again, swinging her arms around.

The butler's look is somewhere between shock and determination.

Bruce honestly isn't sure what's going through the older man's mind when Dick shushes Mar'i gently by bouncing her and saying, " _Great_ -Gramps, chakano. Actually, _Amazing_ -Gramps who _isn't_ going to yell at us and _is_ going to teach us how to take care of you, _pretty please._ "

"'Amazing-Gramps'?" Alfred repeats softly. His steely grey eyes look more gentle than Bruce can remember.

Dick gives a small grin as he holds Mar'i a little closer to his chest. "Well, _yeah_ , because Bruce is already Grandpa (and _no offense_ , he doesn't know a lot about little kids - don't give me _that look_ Bruce, you read me War and Peace in the original Russian for a bedtime story when I was eight, and my point _was_ it's understandable,)" Dick turns back to Alfred.

"You were more comfortable with Russian than with English back then," Bruce mumbles, because _it's true_ , Dick spoke around three sentences of English when he'd first started living with Bruce, and even those lines were from a romantic comedy, so they weren't applicable in conversations not about pick up lines. "And I was doing fine."

"But," Dick says like Bruce has never spoken, "you're kind of like the ultimate _anything_ , and you're _already_ on a level of unattainable awesomeness as a grandfather to me and Jay and Tim and Damian that I figured you were already a great grandfather, so now you're-"

Dick is rambling again. Bruce has always found that trait endearing, much like anyone else who's ever met Dick. Even - and perhaps especially - Alfred has shown a soft spot for it.

"Amazing-Gramps," Alfred finishes, but now his eyes are glued on Mar'i. "It has a ring to it, I suppose. And. . . who is _this_ young lady?"

"Oh!" Dick holds Mar'i out again. "Alfred meet. . . Mar'i. . . my daughter."

Alfred inhales sharply as Mar'i smiles at him in a way that is undeniably Dick's, even the dimples matching up perfectly. She holds out her hands to him.

". . . May I?" Alfred asks weakly. Bruce almost wishes he'd been that graceful in his introduction to Mar'i.

Dick looks indecisive for a moment, as if he didn't want to let Mar'i go, but he hands her to Alfred anyways.

Alfred's face does an entire one-eighty, and the stoicism has all but vanished from his face. "Hello there, young mistress."

Mar'i giggles and coos at him, chubby fingers curled tightly around Alfred's tie.

"Oh, _dear_ , Master Dick, would you mind explaining exactly what course of events led up to this. . . miraculous discovery?" Now Bruce _knows_ Mar'i has him wrapped around his finger.

"It's a long story," Dick says simply.

Bruce nods in agreement, because _it is._ He's heard it.

Mar'i tugs on Alfred's tie, but the other man doesn't react outside of leaning down and wincing slightly. It's then Bruce remembers that she's half meta.

" _Ah_ ," Alfred says, gently attempting to loosen the fingers clutching his black tie.

"Er- give her back to me?" Dick's words come out like a question, but his oldest friend obliges anyway.

There's still a tiny hand clutching the strip of cloth, but it's Dick who's supporting most of the baby's weight. The youngest man - not a boy anymore, Bruce has to remind himself - easily pries it off

"She has quite the grip," Alfred remarks as he rubs his neck.

Dick laughs, and Mar'i giggles with him as if they have a private joke. "You should have seen her mother."

 _This is okay_ , Bruce assures himself, understating it on purpose, so it doesn't get taken from him like most things he loves.

"Have you contemplated what to tell your brothers?"

". . . No."

* * *

 **would you like me to bring Starfire into the equation?**


	5. Always Come Up Sideways

Bruce stares at the child in front of him.

'Amazing-Gramps' had dragged a very reluctant Dick to the store to get, as the young father had explained the concept of his leaving as to Mar'i, "some really wicked baby gear" for her, leaving Bruce alone with his granddaughter.

Mar'i doesn't even blink. "Bah," she says informatively.

He wishes he knew Tamaranean. Bruce had deemed it utterly unnecessary since only one known hero spoke it, and even then, Starfire already spoke English and was able to learn any other languages through lip contact.

But now. . . it's the language that Mar'i is most familiar with, and probably the only one she understands.

"Yes," he replies, trying to convey warmth, knowing that she won't understand, but feeling determined to not "emotionally screw up" his grandchild the way he's apparently done with his sons.

He offers her his hand, marveling at how much bigger his fingers are than hers. (But with any luck, she'll grow, hopefully into Starfire's height rather than the small statured one of Dick's family.)

Mar'i's solemn expression shifts into one of delight. She claps his large palm in her tiny ones, and Bruce watches in slight horror as he feels a bruise coming on immediately.

He figures this is going to be a very painful eighteen years.

Literally.

* * *

"Daddy," Lian asks, "When are we going to get to Uncle Dick's?"

"Soon, etai-yazi, we've just gotta stop by the store first."

* * *

"The elephant one, definitely," Dick decides aloud, before biting his lip. "Or maybe the Superman one? Or - _ohmygosh_ what if there's a Robin one? Why don't they have any Starfire or Nightwing stuff? Forget it, let's go with Wonder Woman. Unless...elephants?"

"New father?" a tired looking middle aged woman in the aisle with him asks.

" _Yes_ ," Dick answers immediately. "Is it that obvious?"

She snorts. "Sort of. You act like one, and well. You don't see many teenagers in the baby aisle."

Dick frowns and shuffles awkwardly, glancing back to where Alfred is looking baby food. The older man would say something awesomely sassy but also painfully polite at the same time to this, but...Dick is kind of frazzled at the moment, so he just tells her, "I'm actually twenty three."

It garners the same bouquet of apologies and awkwardness. "Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine," he assures her.

"That's still, uh, pretty young to be having a child," the woman tells him almost disdainfully. "Are you married?"

It takes all of his Deathstroke-training to squash the Bat-instinct of going on the defensive immediately. "No," he offers nonchalantly.

" _Hmm_ ," the lady says, with _real_ disdain this time, like he should regret having Mar'i, which he's pretty sure he's _never eve_ r going to. Even if he only just found out that she existed this morning. "Is the, ah, mother in the picture?"

"Um," he answers, because ' _no, this baby was dropped on my doorstep by my super-powered, alien ex's nanny to raise indefinitely'_ just doesn't feel like the right response. "She's going through some stuff right now...?"

Her eyebrows knit together calculatingly and she smiles smugly. "Because my lovely young daughter Eunice is going through much the same thing, and I think you'd be a delightful couple! You're such a sweet young man and," she wiggles her eyebrows, "so very _cute_. Here, I'll give you her number!"

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that," he tells her, but she keeps tapping at her phone. "We're still together! We're actually engaged!" It's only a partial lie, because _yeah_ , five years ago they _were_ engaged. And they never called it off, so much as never went through with it.

"Is that _so_?"

Dick really doesn't like this lady. He _totally_ sees why Bruce punched all those paparazzos that got into his face about him after the adoption. "Yeah, would you like to see a picture?"

" _Love to_ ," she sneers. "I'll show you Eunice."

 _Um, okay_ , Dick thinks, and considers holding his hands up placatingly. _I'm not going to fight with you in the baby clothes aisle_.

Eunice turns out to be a woman in her early forties with a lot of tattoos detailing how much she hates superheroes. "She works at LexCorp," the lady explains.

Which is like, a big no-no. It's actually in the Justice League Official Guidebook; "Rule 438) No romantic or sexual relations with anyone associated to Lex Luthor", with a footnote from Booster Gold, "IF YOU DO, THE WORLD WILL END, I'VE SEEN THE FUTURE."

"Here's Kory," he smiles a little as he scrolls to the Tamaranean's picture. "And our baby, Mar'i."

"Oh my god, _Dick_?" a familiar voice almost shouts.

Dick whips around. " _Roy_?"


	6. The Astronomer Says

" _Excuse_ me for a second, please," Dick tells Eunice's mother, turning around slowly to face his best friend.

"Richard. John. _Grayson_ ," Roy hisses, face red. "You have a _kid_?"

Lian pops out from behind Roy's legs, looking just as scandalized as her father. "And you didn't _tell_ us?"

Dick flinches. He _really_ doesn't want to have to explain this _again_. He knows Roy won't judge him, because the archer loves kids, is great with them in fact, and he'll _totally_ understand the whole thing with his ex-fiancée having a baby and not telling him, but…

"Uh - I found out, literally like three hours ago," he says instead, feeling like a huge jerk.

Roy's expression is murderous, and Eunice's mother backs out as quickly as she can. "With Kory? And you're _engaged_?"

 _Karma_ , a voice in Dick's head sings. _This is what you get for lying_. "Uh," he says again, for once in his life at a _total loss for words_ , "can we finish this up somewhere else, like," Dick glances around nervously, and wishing Alfred would hurry up and pull a Batman by appearing out of absolutely nowhere, "in private- _slash_ -not in the middle of this place?"

Lian, in all her seven year old glory, glares at him. "Fine. But we _will_ be finishing this, Uncle _Dick."_

Roy almost smiles, but schools his expression just in time. He wonders if he and Mar'i will ever be like this. "You heard her."

"Great," Dick agrees weakly, forcing a grin. "Meet me in like thirty minutes." He felt his smile waver. "But like, don't tell everyone all right? I need some time to. . . you know."

"Let it sink in," Roy supplies, odd expression in his face. Dick gets that. It must be kind of weird to find out that your best friend has a baby that he didn't even know about. Dick knows how freaked out by baby Lian he was. But Roy will probably be able help him out with all the actual taking care of an infant. ". . . Yeah."

Plus he still can't choose between elephants or Wonder Woman.

* * *

1:27 To wall-man: _did you know that Dick had a kid you jerk_

1:27 From wall-man: _WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAAAT_

1:27 From wall-man: _you forgot a vocative comma, btw_

1:27 From wall-man: _BUT WHATWHATWHATWHATWHATWHATWHATWHAT_

1:27 From wall-man: _YOU CAN'T JUST SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND NOT RESPOND._

1:27 From wall-man: _HE HAS A KID BUT HES THE BABY NOW I FEEL OLD OH MY GOD ROY WE'RE REALLY ADULTS NOW_

1:28 To wall-man: _not all of us can type a thousand words a minute. U didn't feel old b4? U already have preteens Wally, wtf_

1:28 From wall-man: _THEY JUST AGE QUICKLY OKAY ITS THE SPEED FORCE_

1:28 From wall-man: _GIVE ME THE DETAILS. ALL OF THE DETAILS. ALL OF THEM. IMMA COME OVER THERE AND KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO THAT CHILD._

1:28 From wall-man: _OMG WHOS THE MOM ITS A REDHEAD ISNT IT. BARBARA. OR OH MY GOSH IS IT HELENA BERTINELLI I SO CALLED IT. NO THAT BLONDE MURDERER LADY. OR OR OR OR OR UMMM HE HAS SO MANY FLINGS I CANT KEEP TRACK_

1:28 From wall-man: _WAIT TELL ME ABOUT THE KID TOO_

1:28 From wall-man: _WHY ARENT YOU TEXTING ME BACK_

1:28 To wall-man: _it's Kory's. I'm going to see the kid now._

1:28 From wall-man: _WHAT_

1:29 To wall-man: _don't tell anyone, he's like really frazzled right now, he just found the baby was a thing a couple hours ago apparently. I think, for once in his life, he doesn't need any more attention than necessary_.

1:29 From wall-man: _um_.

1:30 To wall-man: _west I swear_

1:30 From wall-man, to girlofwonder, fish-guy, That'ssoRaven, Vic, Clark K, WW, J. Stewart, TIM, and 153 others: _NVM FALSE ALARM GUYS WE'RE ALL GOOD HERE I LIED YOU KNOW ME, MOTOR MOUTH OF THE CENTURY HAHAHA YEAH BYE_

1:30 From wall-man: _ok we're all good here I fixed it_

1:31 To wall-man: _you screwed up._

1:31 From wall-man: _ik ik see you in like five_

1:32 To wall-man: _WALLY NO_

* * *

Dick's phone blows up.

 _345 New Messages_


	7. Orion's Bow

_okay, so um apparently you all really liked Roy and Wally getting brought into this. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! :)_

 _and I know I said 6-7 months, but then I was like ehh...? So now Mar'i is toddlerish, around 8 mo. to 1 yr, mayhaps? But only speaks Tamaranean? I know, I know, except, I kind of don't know anything about babies._

 ** _transmetaljohn_** _hope I fulfilled your wishes with the Tim tidbit!_

* * *

"Pa'soka?" Mar'i asks Bruce. _Again_.

"Uh," Bruce says. _Again_. He's bordering panic (or at least as close as he can get, since obviously, he's _Batman_ , which really is just breaching the shield of cold indifference and taking on regular indifference) because he's never had to deal with a baby before. He hardly knows anything about them. He hardly even knows anything about his _own_ kids. Children are not his forte, despite what what adoption agencies must think.

He can only guess that what she's saying means father, because -

The door swings open. Alfred struts in, looking remarkably. . . nonchalant despite the fact that his charge/favorite-pseudo-grandson apparently had a child that no one was never told about, and then having to go shopping, of all things immediately after. Mar'i claws at his shoulder with tiny hands, trying to get a better view.

"We are expecting more company," his oldest friend tells him primly, just as Dick stumbles in, eyes glued to his phone, typing furiously.

"Pa!" Mar'i exclaims.

Dick's blue eyes snap to her, and he grins, his soft features lighting up completely. "Mar'i!"

Bruce wishes he could be that open when expressing his. . . affection for his children. Mar'i will never once in her life doubt that she's loved, and Bruce? He can't even _think_ the words.

He hands his granddaughter over, making a silent resolution to be more. . . what? Like Dick? Affectionate?

"Um, hey, Amazing-Gramps?" Dick says, letting himself be half-strangled by his daughter.

"Yes, Master Dick?" Alfred replies fondly. Bruce's mind stutters on the fact that _Alfred_ , the cold, no-nonsense figure of his youth just responded to the name ' _Amazing-Gramps_ '.

"Okay, well, like two things, actually. First, I'm like, er- roughly 100% sure — please don't kill me for not telling you this — that Tamaraneans actually have like five stomachs. Is that going to be a problem? But then also, do you remember that year when I got stuck in the Home Ec class, so I got like a duckling that I had to raise, and it imprinted on me? Is it going to be weird when Roy and Wally come, and are all like, yo! But then, because you guys are also here -"

" _What_." Bruce feels an aggravated twitch in his right cheek. "Wally _and_ Roy?"

Alfred practically sighs. " _Yes_ , Master Bruce, _do_ try to keep up. Personally, I'm more concerned about having five stomachs."

" _Yo_!"

* * *

Roy, figuring that the last thing Dick needed to be around was another kid, had had Wally take Lian to Iris, who'd already been on babysitting duty.

His phone buzzes for the nth time.

"Sorry," Wally repeats, still not sounding sincere in the slightest, as he reaches up to knock on apartment 3B.

The message is, again, from Tim. He hasn't replied to anyone yet, but he feels like he kind of owes something to Tim.

 _2:12 From TIM: Roy, please answer me, I know you're receiving these._

 _2:12 To TIM: ok ok so wat happened was starfire pulled a jade|_ Roy backspaces as quickly as he can.

 _(Not sent)_

 _2:13 To TIM: ok ok so wat happened was now Dick haz a Damian?_

 _2:14 From TIM: um_.

Roy tucks his phone into his pocket, satisfied. Except not. "You know, you don't need to be here. I'm his best friend, I think I can handle this."

Wally's head rolls around to face him _literally_ at the speed of sound. "Ex- _cuse_ me?"

"Oh my _god_ , Wally," Roy mutters. He can practically _feel_ the drama queen in his friend come out.

" _I'm_ his best friend. He's the godfather of my kids, and I'm _about_ to be the godfather of his," Wally challenges, face flushing. "I've known him for like, a long time."

"I've known him longer," Roy argues, not even going to mention that he's Lian's godfather too, and about to knock on the door when a pale hand stops him.

They glare at each other for a moment before they charge in, nearly getting stuck in the doorway.

" _Yo_!"

* * *

Tim stares at his phone for a long moment.

An exceptionally long moment.

Dick having a Damian could have many meanings.

Like, perhaps the demon-spawn had run off to _Tim's_ big brother's place, and had no intention to come back. Which would be great. Would be fantastic, actually, except for the fact that he'd never be able to visit Dick again.

But it could also mean that Dick had a love child with Talia. Which would be decidedly _not_ -great. Because his family really needs to stop having children with assassins. It seems like that would be obvious, like a rule of logic — but really how many times has anyone in their line of work ever conformed to logic? Once. Maybe twice.

Possibility number three, one of Dick's _ex-girlfriends_ (of which there are too many to count, much less name) left a baby on his doorstep for him to raise, similarly to how almost every vigilante met their biological children. That would certainly qualify as "Dick having a Damian".

No. 3 is likely a stretch. He's probably overthinking it. Probably.

Only — he saw Damian just a few minutes ago, which crossed out No. 1. Bruce wouldn't have dropped absolutely everything, and later Alfred, for anything less than an emergency. Okay. He's lied. Bruce is desperate for any opportunity for to escape the dreaded "family time". "Family time" which absolutely no one enjoys, sans Dick, but that's just because. Well. _Dick_.

And children? They absorb time. His parents complain about him doing just that whenever they came home. Which, admittedly, isn't often.

If Dick has a child, he'll rarely be around.

Tim has long been used to not getting attention, Tim can "deal", but _Damian_ is different. Damian's whole world has always orbited around himself. First from Talia, then Bruce (who he hadn't known really long enough before the man's infamous escapade through time to realize Bruce's lack of attentiveness), then Dick — who really, could spoil anyone with attention and kind words. He's always been — in some ways — doted on.

Tim might have to put aside his dislike — ahem, loathing — of Damian to step up and become that central support figure. That role has never fallen to him. He doesn't want it, but if it spares Damian well. . . what Tim's childhood was — _is_ — than he'll do it. Not gladly, of course, and he's sure that his attempts at mentoring will be ridiculed and rebuffed at every turn, but he'll _do it._

Dick's always wanted kids. Tim remembers, way back when Dick and he were much younger and would have all night movie marathons, and talk about unimportant things and binge unhealthy foods, and were both new to their roles, that Dick told him that. But he'd never figured that he'd live long enough to raise them, and he'd never wanted any child to become an orphan, much less his _own_.

In any case, Tim hopes having a Damian will make Dick happy.


	8. Mingled Restless Talk

Bruce narrowly avoids sighing as the door bursts open and two redheads — that managed to corrupt _Dick,_ of all people — make their grand entrance.

"Roy! Wally!" his son exclaims, grinning wildly at his friends — _and making Bruce feel like he doesn't belong anywhere near them. _Except for the fact that he's the grandfather to Mar'i and deserves to be there more than any of them. He almost smirks, reassured.

"Dick! A baby! Alfred!" Wally laughs in return, smile only faltering when his gaze lands on Bruce. "Oh - uh, Bruce. I mean, Mister Wayne. Sir."

He raises his eyebrows, not particularly offended by the speedster's apparent fear — it's not as though it isn't justified, in JL meetings, he tends to, _ah_ , take charge. "Wallace."

Roy walks over to Dick, bending over slightly to get a look at _his_ granddaughter's face. " _Ohhhh_ ," the redhead nearly coos when a tiny hand reaches out to him. He looks up at Dick. " _Dude_."

"I know!" Dick practically squeals. "Her name's _Mar'i_."

"Um," Wally says, hands up, "and you and Star? Gonna need some more _details_ , bud."

On that point, Bruce can agree. He would _also_ really like to know why the alien decided to drop her and Dick's baby on his doorstep.

"What- _ever_ , Wally," Roy pushes the other redhead away from Dick. "We are going to _teach_ you how to be a dad. But. Um. It's going to be all me, because," he gestures vaguely at the speedster. " _That_."

"Richard, Richard, _Richard_ — can I call you Dick? Of course I can, I'm your best friend in the whole wide world. I've raised _two_ children. _Two_!" Wally tells Dick, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "From birth to adolescence."

Roy coughs into his fist. "I thought they just aged fast."

"You know _what_ , Harper—"

"Just saying, I have more experience with secret love-children."

"Are you saying my children aren't loved? Because, _hey_ , buddy, you want to _go_?"

"That's not even what it—"

" _Gentlemen_ , please," Alfred intervenes, just before Mar'i begins to cry. Even after spending thirty some years with the butler, he's still not sure that Alfred isn't some sort of psychic.

Dick's eyes widen. "Ah, um, what is - what is happening right - right now?"

Mar'i just wails louder. She clutches Dick's t-shirt in her hand, twisting and shaking.

Dick holds the baby as far away from him as he can, looking immensely panicked. "Why is—? Help, please. . . ?"

The redheads exchange amused glances. Roy snickers, elbowing Wally. "You should probably leave, you're _bothering_ her."

Wally hisses, before plastering a smile on. He holds his hands out. "Give her to me."

Dick, to Bruce's approval, looks skeptical. "Um. But didn't you like, drop Jai and Irei, like, a lot?"

"Well, _yeah_ ," Wally scoffs, as if this should be obvious, "but I caught them!"

Dick is meticulous about very few things. He forgets to eat sometimes, Bruce knows, and he is certainly not meticulous in regard to cleaning. Balance is one of them. He checks his grappling hooks even more than Bruce does, which is a rather impressive feat,

Falling is very high up on his never-do list.

And Bruce very much doubts that Dick is going to interest his only child, even if he only just met her and has no idea what to do, with anyone that is any less cauctions than Bruce —

Until he's wrong, and Dick hands Mar'i very slowly to _Roy_.

And Bruce has only ever been wrong eight times.

 _At least,_ he tries to reason with himself, _it's not West._

* * *

"Damian!" Tim calls, because maybe _,_ _maybe_ , he's jumped the gun, and there was not, in fact, another Grayson.

Damian _had_ shown an especial fondness for leaving at inopportune moments, perhaps the boy had jumped though a zeta tube, headed to Dick's flat in New York, and somehow gotten himself injured, so Bruce and Alfred had decided to go over immediately.

It's a stretch.

"T-t," Tim hears from behind him. "What do you want _now_ , Drake?

 _Deep breaths,_ he instructs himself, _deep breaths. So he's here, being a brat as per usual, only that means —_

"Has Dick...contacted you recently?" he asks, before realizing that he could have just scrolled through the contacts, and _good job, Drake, you just dug yourself into a hole — now he'll know something's up,_ until he remembers that Damian changes his numbers and phones all the time, like no eleven year old should know how to do, and that as of this month, he hasn't had the chance to check.

 _Jesus_ , this kid doesn't know how many years he's shaved off of Tim's life. Although, knowing Damian, he thinks a little spitefully, he probably _did_. Not that Tim will probably live long enough for those years to matter much.

Damian just glares up at him.

"Going to take that as a no," he decides, jamming his hand into his pocket. His phone is vibrating again, but if he checks it in now, Batman Jr. will know that there is an issue, specifically an issue involving Dick Grayson. And where _Dick Grayson_ is involved, Damian Wayne likes to be involved.

" _Why_?" Damian demands.

Tim sighs, and resolves to avoid the question. "Because you didn't respond, and your reaction suggests that the answer is negatory."

More glaring ensues. "What is wrong with Grayson, Drake?"

Tim contemplates what to answer. He could calmly sit down, and inform Damian that, ' _hey, you're not the baby anymore, and odds are, Bruce is going to love this kid more than anyone, definitely you_ ,' or he could maturely show him the texts from Wally and Roy which seem to imoly that there is now a child living in Dick's apartment, and allow the evidence to speak for itself. Or just rattle off the possibilities of 1) ex-girlfriend pulling a Dumbledore and leaving a baby on his doorstep, 2) Talia al Ghul being Talia al Ghul, or 3) that Damian has run away. Although, the third one can be as untrue.

He blurts, instead, "Your mom!"

* * *

 **review who you want — Wally, Roy, or _JASON_ as the godfather? **


	9. Lifelong Curiosity

Damian, for once, cannot conjure a response.

Tim has explained the reasoning behind his ever-so eloquent statement and shown him the texts, but he can't believe it.

Of course, Drake is hardly the detective that the so called 'family' seems to think he is, but Damian feels off balance.

And...he doesn't want Grayson to have a child.

 _(He hardly visits as it is._ )

And having a child will make him distracted, will make him...

He wants to storm over to Grayson's flat and — well, he doesn't know what, exactly.

( _He's always thought of Grayson as sort of like a father.)_

Damian hates her and is jealous of her but mostly _hates_ her.

Why would Grayson tell West before Damian? He's supposed to tell Damian everything, the way he tells his kind-of-not-really-but-technically-brother _almost_ everything

"Well?" he demands, not letting emotions show, like Mother — like _Father_ — taught him.

Drake's mouth drops open. "'Well?'" he repeats incredulously.

* * *

"Jesus _Christ_ ," Jason groans, flipping his pillow onto his face.

His phone buzzes again, and he feels murderous intent creep in.

It doesn't stop vibrating, so he snatches it off the table and —

It's the Justice League. Of _course_.

The JL seems to think that being put on a mailing list heals all wounds. That a weekly message can repair being _murdered_ and not _avenged_. Apparently, he got put on because he's ' _trying to reform and, Jason, we know you've stopped killing_ ' and...whatever. He isn't, not really.

As he's scrolling through the chain (but really, Justice League? Group chat?), he becomes intrigued —

Ooh.

 _Ooh_ , he thinks excitedly. _Some dirt on Golden Boy._

Now, as far the little 'batfamily' goes, Dick is...tolerable.

He was on Tamaran with his hot girlfriend when the Joker affair occurred. When he got back, learned that he'd missed the funeral, he (allegedly) threw what replacements probably call a Jason. He fought with Bruce — both verbally and mentally — until they stopped talking altogether. Well, until the first replacement happened.

It's definitely not that a certain acrobat leaves Crocky Crunch in his apartment every Tuesday. Grayson totally doesn't stay afterwards, to discuss their shared frustrations in regard to Bruce, because apparently Dick's morals are grayer than people think, due to his time with Deathstroke, and he really only keeps them for fear of getting rejected by Bruce.

Like Jason.

They certainly don't go on patrol afterwards, where Dick limits his talking and Jason limits his shooting.

That would be insane.

Almost as insane as Dick having a _kid._

* * *

"And, this is going to happen, like, every day?" Dick asks, staring in horror as Mar'i, now clothed in something other than Tamaranean garments, is picked up by Roy again.

Alfred sighs exasperatedly. " _Yes_ , Master Dick. It will happen several times a day in fact, possibly more, as she has such a unique digestive tract. And you're going to have to learn to do it yourself, seeng as neither Mister Harper, nor I will be here to help you with your daughter's, ahem, diapers."

Dick actually _whines_ at that, slumping against the wall and covering his eyes with an arm. Blindly extending a hand, he grabs Wally. "Wally. Bruce. Come live with me, I can't do this."

Bruce actually considers it ( _you could keep him safe, and you'd be there, and maybe it could be like it was before_ ) until — "No."

Because he doesn't actually know much about infants outside of how to hold them. Even _that_ he only knows because his publicity stunts often involve kids.

Wally, however, puts one hand on his heart, and the other on Dick's shoulder as he nods sympathetically. "I'll do it, bro, you need me. Having kids is like, hard. Especially when their babies. Plus, they're weird."

Roy's forehead crinkles, probably on the same train of thought that Bruce is. "Wally, don't you have like, kids? And a wife? And a day job?"

"Oh, _yeeeaaah_. Sorry, m—" Wally cuts off as he sees Dick panic and sit straight up. "Whoa, what's—?"

Dick's blue eyes are gigantic. "The _circus_! How am I supposed to run an international circus and take care of a baby?"

 _Excuse me?_ Bruce thinks. He doesn't exactly keep himself updated on Dick's career escapades, but since when does he run a circus? Last he'd checked, Dick was a cop, and complaining about how everyone at the station thought he was too young for the job. He really was, though.

"No one told you having a kid would be easy," Wally says sagely.

"Yeah, _well_ , no one told me my kid existed at all, _so_ —" Dick's voice grows high, and Bruce knows this to be his version of snapping at someone. The _second_ youngest person in the room exhales sharply, running a hand through his hair. " _Sorry_ , I just—"

Someone needs to resolve the tension in the room, but Bruce needs to know, "Since when do you own a circus?"

Apparently, that is a terrible question, because he receive three glares, and Dick begins to cry.


	10. Looking and Looking

**This is some weird mix of New 52 and preboot**

 **Shameless promotion of Dick/Kory**

 **omg too many updates, but I felt bad because I've been neglecting this story. So.**

* * *

"Diana, did you hear?"

"Of course I heard, _everyone_ did."

"Everyone heard what? About the Nightwing thing?"

"Green Arrow, you scared me. And how did—."

"Like Diana said, everyone heard."

"But Flash only—"

"Yeah, we're talking _Flash_."

"And with the way everyone's talking about it..."

 _"_ The _Green Lanterns_? What—"

"We heard. Well, everyone did."

"Okay! We've gotten that."i

"Gotten what? Oh, are you talking about the Nightwing baby crisis of two thousand and s—"

"Nightwing's _baby_ crisis?"

"Kara, when did—"

" _No_! It's _true,_ then _?_ I had our whole lives planned out, he would propose on a—"

"With Starfire too, man. Can you imagine how hot that baby's going to be?"

"Extremely!"

"Ha!"

"I thought he and that Batgirl were better."

"You mean _Oracle?_ She dumped _him_ , I thought. Like, twice."

"Plus she's like, way older."

"Yeah, _but_ —"

"They were kinda cute. But isn't she going out with that Luke Fox guy anyway?"

"I kept forgetting his name, but yeah, that's it!"

"Batwing! He's pretty cute."

"I thought that was David Zavimbe?"

" _Besides_ , have you _seen_ N and Star together, like, they make dream couples seem like they need therapy. It's so cute!"

"Huntress, are you okay? You look like you just found out that you had a kid with an alien."

"Too _soon_ , Hal. But really, you okay, H?"

"Yeah, yeah, great, people, I'm fine, but..."

 _"_ What?"

 _"Batman is a grandpa now_."

A riot nearly breaks out.

* * *

Dick gets himself under control quickly, it's just that _he's got a kid now that he has no idea how to raise and Pop Haly, his godfather and surrogate grandfather, is dead and —_

He's kind of an expert in pulling himself together.

"Jack is dead," he tells Bruce, and _really_? _World's Greatest Detective and you didn't know_? "He left me the deed to the circus, and I kind of manage it now."

Bruce looks — probably only to Dick and Alfred, since a slight lift of his brows are the only indication he gives — shocked, but he doesn't press the issue, a fact Dick is immensely grateful for.

It's just... _Pop_.

He was _always_ there when Dick needed him — after the fall, when he needed to escape the prison that was Wayne Manor, Blüdhaven, New York, Chicago, and he can't remember a time in his twenty three years that Pop Haly hasn't been present for at least a _part_ of. He'd been a constant in a life where there were few.

On the bright side, Mar'i has stopped crying...making him the only Grayson in tears.

Hm.

 _Hm_.

Hm?

Mar'i is a _Grayson_ , he realizes. He's not the only Grayson in tears because he's the only one _period_ , but because...he's crying and the other Grayson isn't.

Dick almost laughs. It makes him want to cry again. He's not the last of his...family.

Well, that's not _exactly_ true — he's got Bruce and Alfred and his brothers (almost all of whom have attempted to murder him at some point, but he still really, really loves them) and the extended family of superheroes and circus folk, and all the civilians he's met and loved and befriended, but something about not being the last of his blood family is...startling.

Pleasantly so.

Suddenly he remembers him and Kory laying on the roof of Titans tower, maybe sixteen going on seventeen and _too_ aware of the world, talking about their future.

What it entailed.

What it didn't.

Dick had nearly popped _the_ question that night (too young, he'd thought but resolute in his belief that she was the only for him, only for them to be engaged a few months later). He remembers pointing out and naming all the stars, showing Kory all of the ones he could, because they weren't the ones visible from Tamaran.

 _'What is a power couple?'_ she'd asked, because she'd heard Vic call Clark and Diana one. Kory had always worried about taking figurative things too literally, and literal things too figuratively.

 _'It's like...like an amazing couple who gets everything done but, mostly, is amazing,'_ he remembers explaining, and it sounded confusing even to him, so he'd added, ' _like us_.'

' _It is...an_ _alien and a warrior, then?'_ she'd asked as a follow up, and _yeah_ , Dick could kind of see where she was coming from with that.

Probably not the best analogy,

' _Sometimes,'_ he admitted (and was that...? Yes!), ' _but not usually. Sometimes it's— Oh, look! Pleiades!'_

 _'Why is it called that?'_ Kory had inquired, and Dick had to strain his astronomical knowledge to find the answer.

 _'Named after these seven sisters in Greek mythology,'_ he said _. 'A lot of stars are named after heroes, though.'_

 _'Oh,'_ she'd replied thoughtfully, ' _that is also common practice on Tamaran. Where is the Nightwing star?'_

He laughed. And laughed. And laughed. ' _There isn't one. The heroes are from a long time ago_.'

' _Have they run out of stars_?' and Dick had sworn he had never loved anyone so much. Would never be able to love anyone more. Couldn't if he tried.

' _No_ ,' Dick said, trying very hard not to picture a star named Batman (how _majestic_ ) and failing miserably. ' _But_ _maybe they're out of heroes_.'

He had no doubt that Koriand'r had her own star somewhere. She deserved a million.

 _'If_ ,' she'd begun softly, before correcting herself and nudging his shoulder, and smiled at him, ' _when we have a child, they will be worthy of a place among the stars.'_

Dick's heart would have stopped had they not already discussed if they would ever want kids — ' _Sure_ ', he'd conceded earlier, flashing a shy grin at her and squeezing her hand, ' _with the right person._ '

' _A real night-star,'_ he said, before laughing at it. He'd never been one to resist a pun.

Oh.

He'd forgotten that.

He doesn't know _how_ , but he had.

Dick looks at Mar'i, and he sees Kory.

This is what his future entails.

* * *

"And," Koriand'r says, already missing a familiar weight in her arms, "you delivered her safely?"

"Yes," Galfore affirms, clapping her on the shoulder like Tamaran has not been destroyed and she is still a little _gyermek_. " _And_?" he prompts, green eyes sparkling.

She grabs his arm, clutching it and meeting his gaze. "How _was_ he?"

Galfore laughs heartily at her eagerness, grabbing at his girth. "As usual," he offers, making his wording as vague as possible. She stares at him even longer, making her eyes even bigger the way Dick taught her. "He was well. Although...he looked like he swallowed a _kifog_ when I told him! _Ha_!"

She smiles, picturing Mar'i staring at him blankly and Dick staring back, equally confused.

"Princess," Galfore says, and he is either in a story telling mood or prepared to offer advice. She would accept either one gladly. "You could join them — you _should._ Your sister will not think to look for you, or for Mar'i, on Earth. I believe that you know so, in your _vm'enak_. You are just afraid."

"I do not know what Komand'r will do," Kory sighs. "That is the problem."

"But," begins Galfore. "You know what _you_ should do. Do not be afraid, it does not suit you."


End file.
